


Discovering Hidden Truths

by Quentari



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation Spoilers, Hidden Truths DLC, Multiple Pov, No Deeprealms, no my castle, no outrealms, probably lots of LBGT, underage Sakura and Elise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2018-12-09 17:10:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11673495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quentari/pseuds/Quentari
Summary: Inigo, Severa and Owain left the realm of Awakening a few years ago, their friends miss them and want them to come back home. Basically a Revelations AU with some of the 2nd generation characters from Awakening joining the Fates universe





	1. Chapter 1

“Babysitting again?” said Noire as she leant against the doorframe, a small smile on her face as she looked over at Yarne.

Yarne smiled, and adjusted the small bundle in his arms. “Yeah,” he said softly. “Can you blame me though?”

Noire took a few steps into the room and looked down at the baby taguel in Yarne's arms. “No, she is very cute. May I hold her?” She held out her hands and Yarne gently transferred the sleeping Taguel into his friends arms.

“I never thought this would be possible,” said Yarne.

“What?”

“A sister.”

Noire nodded, and gave her finger up for the baby to hold. “I know what you mean, my own mother... I think the me from this world will be okay. And you're now far from the last.”

Yarne chuckled softly, “I don't know if having a little sister means I'm no longer endangered.”

“I think you think it though,” said Noire. “You seem a lot braver lately.”

Yarne grinned. “Thanks.”

The two of them gazed out of the window into the courtyard below. A tiny Lucina was eagerly explaining a game to her baby cousin and a tiny taguel.

“It's so weird to think that's me down there,” said Yarne.

Noire giggled, “and Owain. He's just like our Owain.” She stood in silence for a few more moments. “I miss them.”

Yarne nodded. “They have been gone for too long, I thought they would be back by now.”

Noire chewed on her bottom lip nervously. “Should we... Maybe we should try and find them?”

“Where would we even start?”

Noire shrugged. “We made the trip through time, it can't be that hard to find our friends.”


	2. Into The Ground

There was a thunderous booming noise and a flash of lightning seconds before Yarne felt himself falling and then hitting the dirt. He blinked the white spots from the blinding light out of his eyes and looked around. He was on the outskirts of a large field surrounded by lush greenery. His friends were nowhere to be seen, instead he was on the ground before three strangers.

“Are you alright! What was that?” asked one of the women, who bent down to help Yarne to his feet. She was tall, with long slightly curling white hair and crimson eyes.

“I'm fine, thank-” Yarne's train of thought trailed off as he saw the two armies on opposite sides of a shallow creek. Two men close by, one on horseback and the other on foot, were clashing. Their large glowing swords giving off cracks of lightning as they parried each other with a skill Yarne had not often seen. He gave an involuntary squeak.

“My Lady, we don't have time for this, we need to do something,” said the formally dressed man with grey hair that was tied back at the nape of his neck.

The crimson eyed woman nodded at them, then turned back to Yarne, her eyes flickering quickly to the axe he had strapped to his back. “My name is Corrin, this is Jakob and Azura. We're trying to stop the fighting, will you help?”

Yarne hesitated only a second, remembering the face of his tiny baby sister, before nodding and unhooking his axe. “I'm Yarne... What's the plan?”

Azura pointed to the two closest groups of fighters, “if we take out the leaders, we may gain their attention.”

Corrin and Azura moved to the right across the creek, leaving Jakob and Yarne to the group on the left.

Jakob made a noise in the back of his throat, almost a 'hmf'. “I hope you can actually use that weapon,” he said, his voice showing clear distaste.

Yarne couldn't think of anything smart enough to say back, so instead rushed to the group and took aim at their leader with a shout.

His axe made short work of the man in charge, his sword and clothing reminded Yarne of the myrmidons back home, and of Owain. He heard a whirling noise from behind him and another swordsman dropped to the ground, with a dagger in his chest.

He could hear Corrin shouting with the two men, he was vaguely aware that the armies had stopped fighting, but there was a ringing in his ears as his blood and adrenaline rushed through him. Yarne wiped the splattering of blood off of his face and glanced at Jakob, who looked as if he was trying hard not to look impressed.

“Efficient,” he said finally.

“Thanks?” said Yarne.

Azura and Corrin walked past the two men quickly.

“We need to leave,” said Azura. 

Yarne and Jakob quickly kept pace with the two women as the four of them headed deeper into the woods that surrounded the open plains.

After a few minutes of running, Azura slowed her pace and the small group stopped in a tiny clearing.

Jakob caught his breath and glanced at Yarne, “you're still here.”

Yarne nodded, and looked again at the group he had found himself with. He had to admit, they seemed better than the group of mercenaries he'd found himself with the last time he'd ended up in a strange world separated from his friends. He looked directly at Corrin, forcing himself to keep eye contact. Jakob had called her 'Lady', so she was probably nobility or the leader at the very least. “I'm Yarne, I got separated from my group,” he said.

“It's good to meet you!” said Corrin cheerfully, “Thank you for helping us back there.”

Yarne had a brief flash of memory, of hordes of risen destroying everything in their paths, of a dragon as big as the sky, of his parents deaths. “I've been around worse,” he said. “I don't suppose any of you have met Owain, Inigo or Severa, have you? They will have been foreign, from another country.”

“Are they the group you got separated from?” asked Azura, her soft voice had a strange quality to it, making Yarne feel calmer than he normally did.

“No, they are the people my group came here looking for. They travelled here about four years ago.”

Corrin shook her head, “Sorry, I've spent most of my life in Nohr. If they were in Hoshido, I couldn't have met them.”

Yarne sighed, “Well... If it's okay with you... Do you think maybe I could travel with you? Until I find any of my friends?”

Corrin looked at him in surprise, “are you sure? I kinda just accidentally made enemies with two warring kingdoms back there.”

Azura turned to Corrin, “alienating all of your siblings.. perhaps you should have chosen a side.”

Corrin shook her head, “I couldn't do that. I can't betray my family, any of them.”

Azura hesitated for a moment, then smiled and nodded. She and Corrin glanced back to Yarne, who nodded.

“I'm sure.”

Jakob looked at Yarne and smiled in a way that was somehow more threatening than his previous scowling, “if you hurt or betray Lady Corrin I shall personally see to it that you suffer immensely. Do you understand?”

Yarne made his second involuntary squeak of the day. “Yes sir.”

Azura led them deeper into the woods towards a place she assured Corrin that neither army would be able to find them until they were ready to be found. It was only a few hours before they reached a partially destroyed building at the edge of a deep chasm, with only a few rickety wooden bridges connecting the two sides.

“You don't mean for us to hide out near the bottomless chasm, surely?” said Jakob once they had stopped near the bridge.

“Not near, in.”

“I know I said I would travel with you but I'm not too big on dying,” said Yarne.

“You won't die if you jump off, you need to trust me. I can explain everything once we've reached the bottom.”

Corrin looked at Azura and nodded. “I trust you.”

“Milady, you can't be serious!” sad jakob.

“I am, I trust Azura with my life.”

Jakob looked like he was about to argue, then he sighed. “And I trust you with mine. Very well, my lady.”

The three of them walked out onto the bridge and Azura was the first to go over the fraying rope hand hold, leaping into the depths.

Corrin took a breath and followed a few seconds later.

Jakob glanced at Yarne and then sighed. “Are you coming?”

Yarne inched out and stood next to him. “I don't think I can jump.”

Jakob smiled gleefully at him, “would you like me to push you?”

Yarne pushed himself under the rope and tried to let go, only to find his fears stopped him from releasing the rope. “Um... Yes. Please.”

Jakob looked at him in surprise and grabbed Yarne's arm, he yanked forcefully and the two of them tumbled off the bridge and fell deeper and deeper into the darkness.


	3. Unspeakable World

Yarne opened his eyes and found himself lying on lush grass, still holding onto Jakob's arm for dear life. He let go of Jakob before he could yell at him again and sat up, running his fingers through the lush greenery. “Thank the gods,” he said, as the breath he'd been holding came out all at once.

Corrin giggled at Yarne, “That was quite the fall, but nothing seems to be broken, are you two alright?”

Yarne and Jakob nodded as they got to their feet.

“I'm fine, milady, but what is this place?” said Jakob, his eyes were skyward, looking at the floating islands and ruins that were scattered about the skyline

“We are in the kingdom of Valla,” said Azura, “I believe this place is responsible for the war between Hoshido and Nohr.”

“How is that possible?” asked Corrin.

“I will explain, but first we must move. If we linger here we'll be spotted.” Azura motioned for them to follow her and, after discovering she was right about the canyon, Yarne felt a little safer trusting her directions.

She led the four of them to a nearby network of caves, where they were finally able to rest for more than a few moments.

Yarne had learned from his last 'travelling through dimensions' adventure, and had a pack with some food and water in it, which he shared with the obviously less prepared group.

Corrin was halfway through eating one of the apples that he had handed out and looking at him thoughtfully.

“What is it?” said Yarne when he noticed.

“Oh, sorry, it's just... Forgive me if this is rude, but what are you?”

Yarne's hand shot to his hair, where he had thought he'd hidden his ears pretty well behind tufts of hair and under his cloak, but apparently not. One of the few things they had found out about this place before their travels was that Taguel and Manakete were not heard of; they didn't exist or had died out long ago. He'd made an attempt to have to avoid lying, but having his ears tied back was uncomfortable at best. “Oh... Um, I'm a Taguel.”

Jakob looked at him suspiciously, “I've never heard of a Taguel.”

“I... I don't think we often travel across the sea. We're pretty rare even where I come from.”

“And where is that?” asked Corrin, she didn't look suspicious, only curious.

“Uh...” Yarne tried desperately to think of something to say that wouldn't immediately out him as a liar, but his racing mind stopped in its tracks when he caught a whiff of something strange. He stood up and sniffed the air, “I think there's something else in here with us.”

The other three stood and drew their weapons, each listening carefully in the darkness.

“We should move quickly, we don't want to be ambushed in these caves,” said Azura softly.

Azura was tasked with holding the torch at the rear of their procession to light their way, Corrin and Yarne walked nearly side by side through the tunnels and Jakob stood close behind, his healing stave and daggers at the ready.

There were a few men in the first cavern they reached, Yarne and Corrin made quick work of them before they had really noticed that the group was there. The soldiers seemed to shimmer with a purple light, which extinguished as they were killed.

“What are these things?” asked Jakob softly, so as to not give away their presence.

“They were once citizens of Valla,” said Azura. “Anonkos is the current King, although he gained the throne by killing the previous king. This used to be a peaceful realm before he arrived, but now there are only wastelands and graveyards.”

The four of them moved on and quickly dispatched the next group of glowing Vallite soldiers.

“So you're saying he destroyed an entire kingdom? For no reason at all?” asked Corrin.

Azura nodded as she allowed Jakob to heal her wounded arm, “Yes, and he intends to lay waste to the entire world. He is the hidden force manipulating King Garon and spurring the war between Nohr and Hoshido.”

“There, Lady Azura. All better,” said Jakob as he put away the stave. “How much further do these caves lead?”

“I think we're about halfway through them, on the other side we should be safe for a little longer,” said Azura.

“That's what you said about this place,” said Yarne with a sigh.

“Wait, if Anonkos is the one causing the war between Hoshido and Nohr then wouldn't killing him end the war?” asked Corrin, “We just need to go back and explain everything to Ryoma and Xander!”

“I'm sorry, but that isn't possible,” said Azura. She steadied herself and motioned that they should continue through the caves. “You mustn't talk about Valla to anyone when you're beyond its borders. If you do, you'll trigger a curse that will make your body dissolve and disappear.”

The group found themselves at a narrow passageway with a ledge above them, archers stood along the ledge and the cavern ahead was filled with soldiers trying to rush them. Corrin and Yarne found themselves forced to go in single file, Yarne went to move ahead but Corrin pushed past him and, with a screech, transformed into a bizarre looking creature which bit the head clean off the soldier ahead of them.

Jakob's daggers dealt with the archers overhead while Yarne tried to get past Corrin in her strange new form.

Despite not looking like any creature he'd seen before, something about the smell was familiar, he just couldn't place it. An arrow came flying through a gap between Corrin's wing and her leg and pierced deep into Yarne’s thigh, causing a spurt of blood to fly out of the wound.

Yarne growled and threw his axe to the ground, mentally apologising to his father for wasting all the training he'd done with him, then focused on the beast stone he had with him at all times.

Within seconds he was in his Taguel form, much larger but also faster. He darted forward, leaping over the top of Corrin, and pulling the archer to the ground.

One of Jakob’s daggers flew past his head and landed squarely in a soldier’s neck. The soldier dropped his axe and, without even a scream, dropped to the ground. A spray of blood hit Corrin in her dragon form just before she rushed forward, finally getting a chance to get past and deal with the archers above them.

The archer died with Yarne’s claws deep in her chest, and Yarne quickly shifted back to his humanoid form. A glance around the cavern showed only dead soldiers and his group. He took a breath, his leg felt like it was on fire, and he could feel his uninjured leg faltering under him.

Azura grabbed his arm before he could fall and helped him sit.

“You’ll get blood on you,” said Yarne. His own leg had blood streaming down it, his leg almost entirely red. His head felt light.

“Don’t worry about that,” said Azura. She was kneeling on the ground next to him, her voice echoing in Yarne’s head in a pleasant way. “Jakob, he needs healing!”

A stronger pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him backwards against the wall, “we need to get the arrow out.”

‘Jakob’, thought Yarne. “Jakob, I- I can’t die here,” he said.

“You aren’t going to die,” said Corrin confidently.

Yarne winced as she put her hands on his leg, on either side of the arrow. Jakob gently gripped the shaft with both hands and pulled suddenly, the arrow ripping out of his thigh in one swift movement.

The pain was intense. He screamed out, his voice echoing throughout the caves, but it was also short lived. He felt the gentle warmness of a healing stave and within a few moments there was only a dull ache.

“Feeling better?” asked Corrin gently.

Yarne looked up at her, her face was splattered with the blood of her enemies and her hands were covered with Taguel blood. He nodded, and then looked at Jakob.

Jakob looked pale and was breathing heavily; the heavy usage of the healing stave seemed to have taken a lot out of him. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his gauntlets had been removed, his hands were nearly as red as Corrin’s.

“Thank you,” said Yarne.

Jakob waved his hand dismissively. “I only did it for Lady Corrin.”

Lady Corrin frowned and elbowed her butler gently. “You did it because it was the right thing to do.”

Jakob gave his liege a soft smile, “Of course, my lady.”

Yarne tentatively stood up, testing his weight on his leg. It still ached, and the arrow entry site was red and raw, but he wasn’t bleeding and he could walk. He limped back to the tunned and retrieved his axe before returning to the group.

“I didn’t know you could turn into a- whatever that was…” said Corrin.

“I didn’t know you could turn into whatever that was,” countered Yarne.

“A dragon. Sort of,” said Corrin. She stood up and brushed dirt off of her armour as best she could.

“A rabbit. Sort of,” said Yarne.

“Then why bother with the axe?” asked Jakob. “It seems the… rabbit… form is much more powerful.”

“I wasn’t sure how well humans here would receive me… And the axe was given to me by my father.”

Jakob rolled his eyes but Corrin seemed interested.

“Was he also a Taguel?”

“No, he was human. He was a fighter, a good one. Before I came here he helped train me.” Yarne paused for a moment to pull his hair and ears back from his face, using a bit of leather to tie it loosely behind him. “My mother was the last Taguel.”

Corrin’s face fell an her left hand, as if by reflex, moved up to gently hover over her heart. “I’m- I’m so sorry. I can’t believe you’re here, risking your entire race to help me.”

Yarne tried his best to give a reassuring smile, “It’s okay, I have a younger sister and my mother is alive and well. I’m… Not the last.” It was almost reassuring to admit that out loud. He wasn’t the last, he was one of three. Four if you counted his younger self separately from his older self. “We should probably move on.”

Azura nodded, “good idea. The sooner we get out of these caves the safer we’ll be.”

The four of them moved on, easily taking out the smaller groups of one or two as they went.

“I can smell fresh air,” said Yarne. “I think we’re near an exit.”

“Thank goodness,” said Corrin with a sigh. She stepped forward into a cavern illuminated dimly by the light from outside; standing in the shadows was a man in full plate armour holding tight to the reins of his horse.

“Gunter?!”


	4. Traitor's Brand pt1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brady POV

Brady had been walking in a roughly Northern direction through the woods for hours. He reckoned he’d arrived a little after breakfast, but now he could see the sky getting darker as the sun set, and still hadn’t seen any sign of civilization. He was sore and tired from the walking, but kept pushing himself to keep moving.

“Damn magic portals,” he muttered aloud to himself after getting poked in the face by a branch he hadn’t moved in time. “Las’ time I got a village. But this time? Too easy. Better drop Brady in the darn forest so he can get eaten by wild bears.”

He let out a deep sigh and finally allowed himself to stop and take a short break. He sat on the trunk of a fallen tree and sat his pack and stave down on the ground, then took in his surroundings. The trees in this land were unfamiliar; he hadn’t seen any species that he’d recognised so far. Most of the ones around him had thin, long grey trunks and no leaves until much higher up. Brady let his gaze wander to the canopy above him, the tree he was sitting near had thick, sturdy looking branches starting much lower than most of the others, and seemed to reach high enough that it towered over most of the nearby trees.

A thought entered Brady’s head that he instantly dismissed. A cool breeze blew past him, signalling a cool turn overnight, and then he entertained that thought again. He stood up and quickly undid his robes, leaving himself in just a thin tunic and pants, and dropped them next to his pack before walking up to the tree. Brady was thin, and he knew he wasn’t very strong, but he was tall. He reached up and easily gripped a hold of the lowest branch, then pulled himself up with some effort.

The priest moved slowly up the tree, making sure he had a firm footing before allowing himself to reach higher for the next branch. The bark under his hands was rough, and he could feel he already had some small grazes forming. Not for the first time he wished that he was stronger, that this could be easier, but this was apparently the cost of having two healing inclined parents.

Brady heaved himself up the last few feet and stood carefully on a bough of the tree, gripping tightly onto an overhead branch to steady his footing as he inched further out so he could get a better view of the horizon.

The sky was clear, without even a single cloud, and the forest stretched on for miles in all directions but one. To the North East he could see a stone tower which looked to be surrounded by a curved stone wall. Brady grinned to himself, glad all the climbing wasn’t for nothing and doubly glad he hadn’t spent all day walking the totally wrong way.

Brady spent a few moments standing still to catch his breath and steel himself for the climb down, idly watching a flock of birds soar overhead. He could see another larger bird flying the opposite way from them, towards the tower. Brady squinted and leaned forward, the bird was a weird shape; it was unlike any bird he’d seen before and yet oddly familiar. The bird swooped down as it got closer and Brady nearly kicked himself for his stupidity, it was a Pegasus with its rider.

As the Pegasus and rider got closer, he could see the woman had long reddish hair and she was definitely heading towards the tower.

Brady took another few steps out onto the branch and let go with one hand, cupping it to his mouth before shouting. “Hey! Hello!” as loud as he could.

The Pegasus rider did a loose circle around the area Brady was in, flying even lower.

“Over here!” shouted Brady. He took another inching step forward so the woman could see him better and, barely a second later, felt a crack underfoot.

The bough he was standing on gave way under him, and he was jerked down so suddenly that he couldn’t keep a grip on the branch he was holding. He let out a yelp as he fell, trying desperately to catch a branch on the way down to slow himself before he hit the ground. 

He felt his fingers connect with a branch, felt the muscles in his arm seize up as it suddenly took the brunt of his weight, felt his shoulder scream and his hand burn. He felt his fingers give way, and a second later he felt his leg twist under him as he hit the ground.

Brady let out a cry of pain as his body hit the earth, the grass and his last minute branch-grab slowing him sown enough that he didn’t break any bones, but he could feel by the familiar pain in his foot that he had sprained his ankle. He gingerly pushed himself up and curled up against the trunk of the tree, his injured arm clutched close to his body, and tried to stop tears from falling.

“Hello?”

Brady froze. The voice came from somewhere behind him, and sounded far enough that whoever it was wouldn’t be able to see him immediately. He hastily wiped his face with his sleeve and used the tree to push himself to his feet using his uninjured arm. He tested his weight on the ankle he’d fallen on, and immediately regretted the decision. The pain was intense, but at least it didn’t seem broken.

He hobbled around to the other side of the tree, a few yards away was a stark white Pegasus with black and gold leather armour in a foreign design. Next to it was its rider. Now that the rider was on the ground and relatively close to him, Brady could see it wasn’t a woman. He was a man, an incredibly pretty man, but a man nonetheless.

Brady opened his mouth to greet him, but instead of anything resembling a greeting the first thing out of his mouth was “Yer a man.”

The man with the long red hair stared at him with a blank expression. “Uh, yes. I am.”

Brady shook his head, “sorry, I’m not used to a man ridin’ a Pegasus.”

“You’re not from around here, are you?” said the red haired man. He started leading his Pegasus over to Brady, carefully picking his way around a fallen log.

“I’m… A traveller. Got a bit lost though.”

The red haired man smiled. His teeth were perfectly straight and white, his skin smooth and his hair was long and silky, tied back into a low ponytail. “My name is Subaki, where are you travelling from?” He stopped just a few feet short of Brady, “are you hurt?”

“I uh, fell outta the tree.”

Subaki, to his credit, didn’t laugh at Brady. He looked concerned as he looked the priest up and down. “I should take you to my liege, Lady Sakura is a talented healer. Can you walk?”

Brady tested his weight on his foot again and winced, “nope.”

“Here,” Subaki gestured for Brady to take his hand. “You can ride Sumire back to Fort Jinya with me.”

Brady hesitated before taking Subaki’s hand and letting the Pegasus rider take his weight to help him stand. “It’s not gonna get mad if I touch it, is it?”

Subaki laughed, “No, she’s fine with strangers.”

Brady had one arm around Subaki’s shoulders. He reached out with his sore arm, which was already feeling better, and gently petted Sumire’s nose. The Pegasus gave a gentle whinny and nuzzled into his hand.

He let Subaki help him up onto the saddle and held tight to her mane with one hand while taking his belongings back off Subaki with the other.

Subaki paused for a moment with Brady’s healing stave in his hand before passing it to him, “are you a healer?”

Brady nodded, “’S about all I’m good for.”

Subaki grabbed the reigns and started leading his Pegasus eastwards towards the road. “Where did you say you were travelling from again?” asked Subaki after a few minutes of walking.

“Uh, from the South?” said Brady uncertainly.

Subaki looked back at Brady and took another look at the stave, “oh, Izumo. Correct?”

“Yep. I’m from there, just travellin’ North.”

Subaki looked pleased that he’d guessed correctly and they walked in silence for another half hour until they reached a well-travelled dirt road. The path was easily wide enough to fit two carts side-by-side, or at least four mounted riders.

“It’s difficult for my Pegasus to land and take off in the woods, but if we fly now we should get there in about ten minutes,” said Subaki as he led Sumire to the center of the road and flipped the reigns back over her head towards Brady.

“Oh,” said Brady, not quite sure how comfortable he was with flying. Gerome was the one who was at home in the air; he felt he’d be quite happy staying on the ground.

Subaki packed Brady’s belongings into one of the saddlebags and pulled himself up in front of Brady, “don’t worry, it’s quite safe, just keep a tight hold of me.”

Brady tried not to grip Subaki’s torso too tightly, but all pretence of bravery fell out the window when the Pegasus took off into the sky. Brady wasn’t sure he’d ever held another human this tightly before, let alone another man, yet here he was with his arms wrapped around Subaki’s chest, clinging on for dear life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sumire is Japanese for Violet, according to a quick google search anyway.


	5. Traitor's Brand pt2

Years of practicing horseback riding didn’t even come close to preparing Brady of what it was like to fly on a Pegasus. Pegasi may simply look like a horse with wings, but to give them the power of flight there were many internal differences. The body shifted differently, tilted in the wind differently. Every inch of the priest was being buffeted by wind, Subaki’s ponytail was whipping itself into his face and the temperature dropped enough for him to notice it through his thin tunic.

Brady shivered, and dared to glance down past Subaki’s shoulder at the ground. He wasn’t good enough at judging distances to say accurately how high up they were, but he knew it was high enough to kill him instantly if he fell.

Brady felt one of Subaki’s hands close over his own. He looked back up at the red-headed Pegasus Knight.

“It’s okay, you won’t fall!” said Subaki loudly so that Brady could hear him over the wind.

Brady scowled, but tried to ease up his grip lest Subaki faint from lack of air.

It was a blessedly short amount of time before Sumire’s hooves hit the ground out the front of the walled fort. Subaki led them in through the large gates and past the armed guards, and Brady took the time to look around at Fort Jinya.

The fort was reasonably large and sat in a large circle, some areas were sectioned off for various uses and there was a large building towards the back attached to a small fat tower. Instead of grey blocks, Brady noticed the people of this land seemed to build their buildings with a much lighter coloured stone, almost white, with a uniquely styled curved blue roof that reminded him of the ones found in Chon’sin back in his own world.

The Pegasus came to a halt in front of what was obviously a stable, Brady could see a few other Pegasi in there. Subaki slid off Sumire gracefully and helped Brady down and onto a nearby bench.

“I’ll be back in a moment,” said Subaki as he led his Pegasus into the stables.

Brady tested his shoulder, experimentally moving it only to find nothing had been permanently damaged. His foot, however, was throbbing. He could tell it was starting to swell underneath his light boots, and as much as he knew leaving his boot on until he saw a healer was the smart option, he was still dying to tear off the laces and relieve the pressure.

Subaki wasn’t gone long before he was back with Brady’s pack over his shoulder and his stave in his hand. “Let’s get you inside, one of our healers here can fix your foot.”

Subaki helped Brady to hobble inside and into a warm room filled with mostly empty cots and sat him down on the nearest one.

“What’re all these people doin’ here?” asked Brady as he looked around the room.

Subaki put Brady’s things on the end of the cot and looked around the room before answering. “Fort Jinya is mostly being used as a hospital during the war; Lady Sakura actually spends a lot of her free time here helping the wounded.”

“What war?”

Subaki looked down at Brady with a curious expression, “the one between Nohr and Hoshido?”

Brady tried to look like he knew what and where those two countries were and focused on uncrumpling his priest robes, fearing he’d already given away too much. He and his friends had learned from last time and had promised each other to keep their true histories a secret, as much as possible anyway.

“I’ll go find you a healer,” said Subaki after a few moments of silence.

Brady sighed as Subaki walked off and then awkwardly re-dressed himself into his dark robes while he waited. There were a few men and women around the room healing the wounded with staves, elixirs and bandages as needed. The men were in simple brown uniforms and the women in red and white dresses, both in a style similar to Subaki’s armour; small ties and blocks of cloth.

It was only a few minutes later when Subaki returned with one of the women. She was small, barely at the height of Subaki’s shoulder, with darker pink hair cut asymmetrically at her shoulders. She was holding a bag of healing potions and bandages with a unique stave under her arm.

“This is Lady Sakura,” said Subaki, his earlier awkwardness seemingly forgotten.

Brady looked at Sakura, who looked up from her bag and immediately balked at the sight of Brady.

Brady’s face fell. He put up a front sometimes, but he hated when he accidentally scared people he didn’t mean to. Bluffing his way past dangerous people? Sure. Scaring girls who barely looked seventeen and were only trying to help him? It hurt.

“Goodness, I’m- I am so sorry,” said Sakura in a rushed voice, stumbling over her words in her own nervousness. “It’s just…”

“Yeah I know; I look mean. I’ll be fine, go help out someone else, it’s jus’ a sprained ankle.”

“No! I mean, it’s just… Subaki said you fell out of a tree?”

Brady felt his face flush hot with embarrassment. “I was lost in the woods.”

Sakura timidly reached forward and gently brushed her fingers on Brady’s cheek, causing his face to flare up in pain. “You hit your face; I’ll get you patched up. Don’t worry.”

Sakura sat her bag beside Brady on the cot and started rifling through it, pulling out small vials and some clean cloth strips.

Brady touched his cheek and winced, his arm and leg had been so sore he hadn’t even noticed he’d hurt his head.

Sakura got to work quickly, she dabbed a potion onto one of the strips of cloth and wiped at Brady’s cheek, pulling the crisp white cloth away tinted red. Brady didn’t even realise he was bleeding. Next she pulled out the healing stave; the design on it was beautiful, silver and gold with a flat mirrored disc over an orb and flanked by two golden wings. The tiny woman waved it purposefully and Brady felt the swelling in his foot ease up immediately and his cheek stopped its mild burning.

“Thanks,” said Brady after Sakura looked like she was done. He stood up, towering over both her and Subaki, and tested his weight on his foot. “You did a good job.”

Sakura looked at the floor nervously and clutched her stave to her chest. “You’re w-welcome,” she said softly.

Brady frowned, it looked like now that the ‘medical emergency’ was over, she was shy. He understood. Inigo was shy and nervous, except for when he was forcing himself to flirt or fight, and his mother was even worse with the shyness but when she needed to she was inspiring to watch on the battlefield. He glanced around the room at the many other injured soldiers and then down at his pack with his own, much simpler, healing stave.

Brady cleared his throat and tried to remember all the lessons on proper speech his Ma had given him over the years. “As a sincere expression on my grat- aw stuff that. I tried. How ‘bout I help out with the healin’ since you helped me out?”

Both Sakura and Subaki looked surprised at that.

“Really?” said Sakura, a small smile breaking onto her soft face. “Thank you!”

Brady picked up his stave and spent the next few hours alongside Sakura and the other healers helping the slow but steady stream of fighters from the latest battle. Brady learned a few things that evening; he was in Hoshido, who was at war with Nohr who were trying to invade. The latest battle happened earlier that day, and Sakura’s sister had fled just days after being rescued taking her adoptive sister with her. That and Sakura was royalty, the youngest of five siblings. Six if you counted the adopted one.

He also met Sakura’s other retainer, Hana. She and Subaki assisted Sakura by administering elixirs and bandages where possible. Hana didn’t seem to trust Brady too much, but Brady assumed that was because it was her job to keep Sakura safe.

The sun had well and truly set by the time all of the soldiers were in a stable condition and the four of them could stop for the night.

Sakura and Hana sat on one side of a low table, Brady was seated on the opposite side next to Subaki, and the rest of the healers were further along finally getting a bite to eat.

After the day he’d had, the seasoned rice he was eating was about the best food he’d ever tasted, even if h was making a mess with the sticks he’d been given instead of a fork.

After the third time trying to scoop up a chunk of the rice and having if fall just before it reached his mouth, he heard Sakura giggle. He scowled at her, then immediately regretted it as her face fell.

“Here,” said Subaki from beside him.

Subaki repositioned the chopsticks in Brady’s fingers and then demonstrated slowly with his own utensils.

“Thanks,” said Brady when he finally got the scoop of rice he’d been trying to get.

“Not a problem. With a little bit of practice, you’ll be perfect at it in no time!” said Subaki cheerfully.

Hana rolled her eyes then turned to Sakura, “when did Yukimura say he’d arrive?”

Sakura finished her mouthful, “after sunset, I don’t think he’ll be too much later.”

“I didn’t think Fort Jinya was in a great enough defensive position for him to bother using it for the war,” said Subaki.

“Look! Something you didn’t know,” said Hana with a grin.

Subaki frowned at Hana, and looked like he was about to say something but Sakura spoke first.

“I think it has something to do with Ryoma’s orders while he’s going off to Cheve. I’m a little worried… He’s not even taking Saizo with him.”

Subaki nodded sagely, “your brother is more than a match for anyone in Cheve, my lady. You should try not to worry.”

Sakura just replied with a forced smile and silence.

After the food Brady fell asleep quickly, borrowing the simple bed Subaki had first left him at to get some rest for the night. Between the early start, the walking for hours and using his energy to power the staves, Brady was tired. Too tired to care that Subaki, Sakura and Hana were still awake; too tired to care that they were talking with an older man with green hair and spectacles; and far too tired to notice either of the silent ninja in the shadows of the room.

Brady awoke the next morning to the sound of Subaki and Hana shouting at each other.

“It was your watch!”

“I was watching!”

“Not well enough it seems!”

Brady sat up, his blonde hair in disarray and his eyes still filled with sleep, “w’as happenin’?” he asked sleepily.

Subaki and Hana paused their heated discussion to glance in his direction.

“Sakura left this morning with her sister, Lady Corrin,” said Subaki.

“An’ why’s the yellin’?”

“Lady Corrin is currently a traitor to Hoshido, and potentially dangerous. And someone,” Hana looked pointedly at Subaki, “was supposed to be paying attention so we could leave with her.” She glared at Subaki again, “probably just recuing more fools in trees.”

Subaki looked furious for a second, then took a deep breath and plastered his usual smile onto his face. “We should leave now if we want to catch up.”

Brady swung his legs off the bed and immediately started pulling on his boots.

“What are you doing?” asked Hana.

Brady didn’t look up from lacing his boot when he answered, “Not gonna let anythin’ happen to that poor girl.”

“You aren’t her retainer; it’s not your job to look out for her. It’s my job,” said Hana. She folded her arms and glared at Brady, tapping one foot against the smooth stone floor.

Brady finished lacing his boots and did something he didn’t do often. He stood up and took a step closer to Hana, scowling as he towered over her with his back straight and his hair a mess. “An’ what a good job you did of it too.”

Hana balked a little at the intimidation stunt Brady had pulled, but she didn’t say anything. She just walked off in the direction of Sakura’s quarters.

Brady sighed and relaxed his shoulders, letting himself fall back into his less intimidating usual posture and running his hands through his hair to neaten it.

Subaki was looking at him with an expression of mild awe, “you must be fierce on the battlefield,” he said approvingly.

Brady shrugged, “not really.” He picked up his pack and his staff, “we should get goin’.”

It only took about an hour on foot to track down Sakura, Corrin’s camp was easy to find. They weren’t necessarily hiding their movements.

“Sakura!” said Subaki happily as his Pegasus touched down in front of Sakura and a woman with long, slightly curled white hair. “You didn’t think you could leave without us, did you?”

Brady ran up and stopped behind Subaki, happy that Sakura was safe. And if the woman in front of them was Lady Corrin… well she didn’t look like the dangerous war criminal that Hana had suggested she was.

Hana rushed up to Sakura and clasped hands with her, “I was worried!”

Sakura flushed a bright pink, “S-sorry!”

While Sakura and her retainers quickly caught up with each other, Brady looked around the tiny camp. There was only a single campfire where an impeccably dressed grey haired man was boiling water with an older armoured knight. A lone horse was tied to a nearby tree and a blue haired woman in a flowing white dress was having a discussion with Yarne.

Brady did a double take, “Yarne!” He called out and started walking towards his Taguel friend, who noticed him immediately and quickly said something to the woman in white before rushing towards his old friend.

“I’m glad you’re safe!” said Yarne with a grin.

“I’m glad you ain’t extinct,” replied Brady.

“I nearly was! I’ll tell you about that later though, for now let me introduce you to everyone,” said Yarne as he gestured for Brady to follow him back towards the woman he was speaking to.

“Wait a sec will ya? D’ya know what this whole fightin’ thing is about? Where’s the group even goin’?” said Brady, grabbing a hold of Yarne’s arm to slow him down.

Yarne looked serious for a moment. “Yeah, I’ll explain what I can but some of it… I can’t. you’ll have to trust me. And we’re headed for a place called Izumo? We need to go to an eternal stairway to get there.”

Brady’s face fell. “We’re going to Izumo?”

“Yes. Why?” Yarne’s eyes widened. “It’s not dangerous, is it?”

“Damn it.”


	6. Wanderer pt 1

It was midway through the second day of their ascent up the Eternal Stairway that Yarne was starting to second guess his involvement in Lady Corrin’s half-baked scheme to unite Hoshido and Nohr against their enemy in Valla. Especially since no one could actually explain anything about Valla to anyone. Luckily Brady trusted him enough to accept “there’s a hidden enemy that we can’t talk about because of a curse” as a valid explanation, and luckily Princess Sakura and her retainers seemed willing to follow Lady Corrin wherever her path may lead.

Speaking of Princess Sakura… Yarne looked behind him as the group marched upwards. She was on Subaki’s Pegasus, flanked on either side by her retainers and with Brady walking a half-step behind Subaki. Brady had spent most of his time with the tiny princess and her retainers, so much so she barely looked scared of him anymore; his friend looked haggard from the walking though.

Yarne slowed his pace to keep step with Brady and the others, leaving Corrin, Azura and Jakob to keep their lead ahead of the others.

“How are you doing?” he asked Brady.

Brady didn’t speak, just gave a quick nod while obviously trying to look like he wasn’t out of breath and sore. 

“Goodness! Brady, are you okay?” said Sakura, who had paused her conversation with Hana and looked over at Brady and Yarne.

Subaki slowed his pace and turned to look at Brady, “Should we ask Lady Corrin if we can stop for a break?”

“I’m fine, quit yer fussin’” snapped Brady in between short breaths.

Sakura started sliding down off of the Pegasus, “at least take a break and ride instead of me, I’m s-sure Subaki won’t mind at all.”

Brady looked like he was about to refuse the offer, so Yarne quickly spoke over him before he yelled or cried.

“Princess, would you like to ride me instead?”

Subaki stared at him like he’d grown an extra head and Hana looked about ready to drive her katana right through him.

Yarne spent a second having his head catch up with his mouth. “I mean- I’d turn into my beast form. You can ride on my back!”

Sakura slid off of the Pegasus’ back with Subaki’s help and looked at Yarne thoughtfully. “I- I’m n-not s-sure…” she said with a nervous stammer and flushed cheeks.

Yarne hadn’t had an opportunity to shift into his Taguel form yet since meeting back up with Brady. He set his concentration on his beast stone and, as easy as breathing, transformed himself into the large rabbit form that he used for fighting.

Sakura gasped, then tentatively reached out and touched the fur on Yarne’s head. “Y-you’re sure I can ride you?”

Yarne nodded, and then spoke, “it might be a little bumpy.”

Speaking in beast form was more difficult than speaking in human form, it strained his vocal cords and made his voice seem to echo, but apparently that was normal, Panne had explained that normally communication was done in human form. Taguel hadn’t evolved to need much in the way of speaking except for in emergencies.

The look of relief on Brady’s face when he got to sit down without slowing down the procession was almost as priceless as the tiny squeal Sakura let out when Yarne started moving. Her fists were buried tight into the fur on his shoulders as they walked, and Yarne made sure she was as steady as possible.

Hana was the only one who didn’t seem happy with this new arrangement, although Yarne was getting the impression that anything that posed even the smallest risk to Sakura made her unhappy.

Lady Corrin and Lady Azura giggled at the sight of their younger sister riding the fierce bunny warrior, and even Jakob let slip a small smile.

Towards the late afternoon a fog suddenly rolled in across the mountaintop, which got thicker and thicker as they ascended.

“Does the fog mean we’re close to the end?” asked Corrin.

Azura frowned and peered through the fog, “we should be getting close to the end, but this fog… I don’t remember hearing about fog.”

At this point the fog was so thick they could only see a few feet ahead of them; Yarne caught a whiff of something in the air and tilted his head to try and get a better scent. “There’s something ahead.”

The reaction of the group was instant. Kaze appeared suddenly from the back of the procession with his shuriken resting between his fingers, Jakob was at Corrin’s side with his dagger in hand, Gunter and Hana unsheathed their blades and Subaki pulled himself up onto his Pegasus in front of Brady with his naginata in one hand and his reins in the other.

Hana quickly helped Sakura off of his back so that Yarne could move to the front of the group. The fog parted suddenly and four lurching outlines appeared in the mist.

“F-Faceless!” said Sakura with a gasp.

For a second, Yarne was frozen in terror at the creatures. They were huge, taller than any among them, with dark green skin what looked stitched together as if from a dozen different bodies. The bare coverings the creatures wore were merely strips of black leather and a horrifying iron mask filled with dark holes where no eyes could be seen.

Yarne couldn’t help but compare the creatures to the risen; the horrifying zombified creatures of his own world. The biggest difference was the smell; the Risen reeked of rotting flesh and dark energies… Faceless just smelt like humans.

The green haired ninja to his left was the first to strike at the closest monster, his shining stars flying through the air and striking the Faceless in the shoulder.

It happened so quickly he might have missed it. A flicker as the shuriken hit the creatures flesh.

“Wait! Don’t kill them!” shouted Yarne.

Gunter's hand jerked mid-swing at Yarne’s shout and missed the creature wildly; he kicked out with an armoured boot to shove the monster away before it could pull him from his horse.

Jakob whipped around and glared at Yarne, “I’ll not be leaving milady at risk on your whim!”

Yarne launched himself at the nearest Faceless and brought it crashing to the ground with ease, and as it hit the illusion faltered. “They are humans!”

Hana ducked under the arm of one and ran behind it, “they are still attacking though!”

“Knock them out, don’t use more force than you need to!” shouted Corrin. She had transformed herself into the almost stag-like dragon form and swept the legs out from under one with her powerful tail.

It was only a few minutes later that the group found themselves staring at four unconscious men.

Azura stepped forward and examined the patterns on their armour, “These men are members of the wind tribe,” she said solemnly.

“I don’t understand,” said Lady Corrin “was this some kind of trap? It doesn’t make sense for them to attack, especially not while hiding as faceless.” The silver haired princess looked around at her friends, advisors and followers. “We… Let’s head to the Wind Tribe’s village. We need to try and explain this.”

Sakura nodded, “We should head to Reppu Castle. The chieftain of the wind tribe resides there; he’s who we should try to see to explain ourselves.”

Yarne shifted back into his human form and looked down at the men again. They weren’t too badly injured, but he wasn’t looking forward to explaining away the damage they had done. And if the Wind Tribe bordered Izumo there was a good chance they were normally peaceful, and wouldn’t take kindly to having their famers attacked by trained soldiers.

He was suddenly clapped on the back by Brady, and jumped slightly from the shock.

“Good thing yer nose was there. We mighta done some damage,” said Brady.

Yarne crossed his arms and smiled, “not sure you would have done much from your vantage at the back of a horse.”

Brady frowned. “Pegasus.”

Yarne role his eyes and began working with Jakob and Kaze to move the unconscious men onto Gunter's horse and Subaki’s Pegasus to take them with them to the wind tribe’s village.

A few short hours up the rest of the mountain and through a rocky expanse of desert later and the still unconscious men had been left at a place of healing on the outskirts of the village, No one had attacked them yet, but their group had been met with open hostility. Yarne shuddered to think how they would have reacted if the men had been killed instead of just badly wounded.

The mob of angry villagers was practically escorting them through the winding streets filled with low stone houses made of sandy coloured bricks. The wind was blowing fiercely in all directions, so much so that Subaki wouldn’t take to the air and was riding his Pegasus on the ground, but Azura had assured them that normally the wind was so strong in this area that all but the most skilled of air tribesmen would be swept away.

When Yarne finally got to look up at Reppu Castle, he was surprised to find it wasn’t really a true castle. The building was large and built high on pillars that stood fast against the wind. There was a maze of interconnected stone bridges or varying heights linking all the platforms together and the entryway was a steep stairway guarded by two villagers with sharp naginata and fierce faces.

Yarne stood beside Brady while he waited for Lady Corrin and Lady Azura to finish negotiating with Chief Fuga inside the castle. They had been in there barely ten minutes before Jakob walked up beside him and pulled off his gauntlets, tipping sand over the white paved path.

Yarne looked at the silver haired butler, but didn’t say anything. He just watched as Jakob meticulously picked the sand out of the joints of his armour. He also didn’t ask why he only wore armour on his hands of all places, but Yarne figured that was a question for when he knew him better.

Eventually Jakob spoke. “You didn’t put Lady Corrin at risk and you stopped us from killing those men, which would have put her at risk.”

Yarne tipped his head, “is that a sorry for yelling or a thank you for helping?”

“Neither; it is just the facts. However, having a Taguel around seems to be useful.”

Jakob wasn’t looking at Yarne, or even facing him. He got the impression that Jakob didn’t say nice things to other people very often.

“Well thank you or I forgive you. Whichever response is more appropriate.”

Jakob let out a small ‘hmf’ sound, but smiled as he redid the fastenings on his gauntlets.

A few minutes later Corrin and Azura stepped out into the square to meet them along with a darker skinned woman with striking white hair.

“This is Rinkah,” said Corrin for her followers that hadn’t met her yet, although she seemed to know Kaze. “She vouched for us, without her we might have been executed.”

Yarne gave an involuntary squeak. Execution is bad for the species.

“But Chief Fuga still wants to battle, Rinkah graciously said she would join us. We have a few hours to prepare.”

Yarne turned to face Brady, who looked almost as shocked at the execution announcement as he felt. “Did we make the right choice? Following Lady Corrin?” he said in a whisper, more to himself than to Brady.

Brady hesitated then nodded. “I think so. I can feel it in my gut, stickin’ with her will get us to Owain, Inigo and Severa.”

Yarne sighed, “I just wish there was less risk to my health.”

Brady let out a laugh, “you haven’t changed much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn't apparent, I'm ignoring the existence of the outrealms, deeprealms and astral plane.


	7. Wanderer pt 2

It was a few hours before sunset. Ahead of them was a twisted maze of platforms, ramps and bridges made of a smooth, white stone; all of it hundreds of feet off the ground.

Brady was standing close to Sumire to block some of the intense wind that was making his priests robes billow and looked like it was about to send Sakura flying; which meant that he was right next to Subaki.

“Fuga explained the trial,” said Corrin, nearly shouting to be heard over the wind. “We need to unseat him from his platform over there.” She pointed across the Wind Tribe’s training arena towards a larger platform high up and so far away Brady could barely see the figures standing on it. “We will have until sundown, just remember we’re aiming to take his fighters down, not kill them.”

Brady glanced at the sun in the sky, he was no expert on telling the time of day but it didn’t look much more than an hour before it was dark.

Lady Corrin quickly explained their strategy for the battle; her often unsure demeanour falling away as she confidently paired allies and assigned spare weapons to whoever needed them. Something about the way she spoke reminded Brady of another woman he knew, silver haired and brilliant in battle.

Brady was so focused on the focused way Lady Corrin was speaking that he nearly missed his own instructions.

“What?”

Subaki turned and smiled at Brady, “don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.”

He was paired with Subaki towards the front line of their assault; Sakura would be healing towards the rear. This meant more flying.

Brady put on a stern face and tried not to look terrified at the thought of being on the back of the Pegasus during battle, it was nerve-wracking enough when their lives weren’t at stake.

“Can ya keep her still enough for me to heal someone while I’m on her?”

“Of course!” Subaki petted Sumire’s nose, “she’s almost as perfect as I am.”

Brady glanced over at Yarne, who was bringing up the rear and stopping reinforcements from overtaking them from the other direction, then back to Subaki who had swiftly mounted his Pegasus and was holding out a hand to help Brady get on behind him.

It was mere moments later that a horn blew and the group started to move forward, taking the narrow path to the left towards a platform full on Fuga’s best Oni Savages and Ninjas. Brady was focusing on not looking down at the wind tribe village miles and miles below them, and instead trying to focus on his teammates.

The battle was a flurry; dodge Subaki’s elbow nearly getting him in the face while he thrust with his Naginata, shout to Subaki to dodge a shuriken flying their way, healing a gouge in Kaze’s arm given by a well-placed blow from a club-wielding savage. Things seemed to be going well, as far as Brady could tell anyway; the group had managed to stay close together and were making easy work of the opposing team and no one was seriously hurt.

Brady was leaning away from Subaki, hand firmly gripping the Pegasus Knight’s armour as he twisted to heal Hana behind him, wind blowing the red-head’s long hair into Brady’s face. He was seconds away from completing the healing when the wind changed directions.

The force of the gust nearly unseated Brady as he; Subaki and the Pegasus were pushed wildly through the air away from the others. Sand and wind and red hair blinded his vision, he could hear himself letting out a scream that was nearly drowned out by the roar of the wind and the whinnying of Sumire.

After what felt like forever but, in truth, was probably only a few seconds the wind died down and he felt Subaki’s hand grip over his own.

“It’s stopped,” said Subaki.

Brady eased up his grip, allowing Subaki to breathe, and looked around. Most of Corrin’s army had been pushed to the edges of the next row of platforms, he could see the faint outline of Yarne’s Taguel form back where they had started, and he and Subaki were now surrounded by enemy mages and cut off from the others.

Squarely in front of them was a young looking spell caster dressed mostly in blue with red-brown hair and a cocky grin.

“You don’t look so tough,” he said as he raised his spell, which was written on a scroll instead of in a book, and cast. A spectral figure erupted from his hands in the shape of a bull, it charged towards them, seeming to aim for the front of the Pegasus and squarely towards Subaki.

Brady saw Subaki’s focus was on a ninja, not on the caster. He reached around the sky knight and yanked at Sumire’s reins, she reared backwards and the three of them avoided the spectral bull, which vanished once it passed them. All of this happened in a fraction of a second; Subaki pulled his naginata from the chest of a ninja and swung around to face the caster, who looked a little less cocky after seeing them dodge his last attack. Especially since there was only one other caster besides him left on the platform after Subaki’s last attack.

Brady almost felt bad for the kid; he looked around Sakura’s age. He looked too young to end up with a spear in his chest, although he was younger than the kid when he was pulled into war, technically the war started years before he was even born.

Subaki swung his naginata towards the boy, but before he could even come close to hitting a bolt of lightning shot past his head. The other mage had an old yellow tome in her hand and a cloak with the hood pulled up over her head, and she was running towards them with a scowl on her youthful face.

Brady recognised her instantly. “Nah! What do ya think yer doin’!”

Nah stopped in her tracks, and the boy and Subaki hesitated in their attacks.

“Brady! I didn’t see you up there,” said Nah. She sounded cheerful, but didn’t put her arcthunder tome away.

The boy with hair nearly the same shade as Nah’s turned to her, his strange bull-scroll still in his hands. “D’you know these two?”

“Only the scary looking blonde one.”

Brady scowled at her, realised that only further proved her point, then scowled some more.

Subaki spoke low, so that only Brady could hear him. “You know her? What do we do?”

Brady took a breath, but before he could even think of what to say the wind picked up. Brady instantly recognised what was about to happen and grabbed on tight to Subaki just a fraction of a second before a gust of wind pushed them in the opposite direction to before.

The back of Subaki’s head slammed into Brady’s face, and both of them nearly lost their seat as Sumire tumbled through the air.

Subaki managed to stabilize his Pegasus mid air, and landed her on one of the bridges connecting the platforms. “Are you okay?”

Brady let go of Subaki and touched his hand to his nose, pulling it away to find his fingers coated with blood. “I think you broke my nose.”

Subaki spun around on the saddle as best he could with Brady so close behind him and saw the blood dripping from his nose, his dusky maroon eyes widened and his face flushed with embarrassment, “I’m sorry!”

In the distance, the two of them heard the horn blow again. Through the dust and sand Brady could faintly see the silver-haired Corrin standing where Fuga once was.

Subaki helped Brady get down off the Pegasus and tried to get a closer look at his face and nose.

Brady was trying to pull away, not used to having someone pull their face so close to his. Subaki was so close he could actually see the faintest spray of freckles across his skin, and just how long his lashes were.

“I don’t think it’s broken,” said Subaki after a moment. His posture relaxed and he quickly moved to one of Sumire’s saddlebags. “I have a vulnerary in here somewhere, which should fix your nose.” He pulled out a small glass vial and held it out to Brady.

Brady took the vial, it looked exactly like a vulnerary from back home, and gratefully drank it down in one gulp. The slightly bitter taste was exactly like home too, but the sharp pain in his face instantly eased and when he used his sleeve to wipe the blood off of his face no more dripped from his nose. “Thanks.”

Subaki smiled and put his hand on Brady’s shoulder, “we make a pretty good team. You’re an excellent healer.”

Brady couldn’t help but smile back, “you too. Yer,” he hesitated for a second as he fought to remember what it was Subaki kept saying, “perfect at the spear thing.”

“Spear thing?” said Subaki with a slight chuckle. “Let’s catch up with the others.”

The wind that had buffeted them earlier had died down significantly, and by the time Subaki and Brady had made their way to Fuga’s platform he was speaking gravely with Corrin and Azura.

“The Yato is the key to the seal of flames. The seal of flames contains limitless power,” Fuga paused and glanced up at the last of Corrin’s followers to make it to the platform. “It is said that it is a weapon capable even of destroying the gods that made it.”

Corrin and Azura exchanged a knowing glance.

Corrin looked intensely at Fuga then back at Azura as she spoke, “It has the power to topple a god? Then… Perhaps it could be used to…”

Azura placed a hand on Corrin’s arm, “Yes. We have a glimmer of hope now.”

Fuga looked at the two women, and something akin to understanding flashed in his eyes. “Izana, from Izumo, should be more familiar with the legends. I suggest you seek him out and ask about the Seal of Flames. Our tribe will also provide aid for your trip.” He glanced behind him into his small gathering of his best warriors. “I believe the best choice would be…”

Brady spent half a second glancing at the tallest and fiercest of his fighters and ninjas, wondering which of these men and women would be the one Fuga deemed best to help them in their fight against an unknown enemy that Yarne wouldn’t- or couldn’t- tell him more about, and was surprised when the small mage from earlier elbowed his way to the front and crossed his arms in front of him confidently.

“There is only one choice,” he said. “I will accompany them.”

Fuga looked unsurprised by this, but Lady Corrin looked uncertain.

“You’re… Are you sure?” She glanced at Fuga as if waiting for him to step in and stop him. “You look so young…”

The boy pouted in a way that made him look even younger, “I’m not a child, I’m a grown man! You saw what I was capable of.” He looked up at his leader and straightened his back. “Chieftain, I humbly request this honour from you. You have no objections?”

Fuga gave the young man a warm smile and shook his head. “No, of course not. Your magical talents will help, I’m sure you’ll be a great asset to Corrin.” He turned to face the mage and placed his large hands on each of the boy’s shoulders, “just promise me you’ll be careful.”

The boy smiled back, then shrugged off Fuga’s grip. “Of course!” he turned to Lady Corrin and inclined his head in a small semblance of a bow. “So, Corrin, you should be grateful I am going to aid you in your endeavour.”

Corrin gave an uncertain smile, “I am… Thank you. We’re glad to have you.”

The boy opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by Nah launching herself through the crowd of fighters and linking arms with him.

“And me! I’ll help!” said Nah cheerfully.

Fuga did look surprised this time, “I thought you were seeking refuge until you could find your companions?”

Nah nodded, and then pointed at Brady. “I found one, and he’s with Corrin so I’m with Corrin.”

Fuga, Corrin, Azura and the wind tribe mage all stared at Brady; the sets of eyes were all making him uncomfortable.

Corrin was the first to look away and back to Nah, “well I suppose we’re grateful to have you too.” She turned back to Fuga, “by your leave, we’ll leave tomorrow at sunrise for Izumo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay. There may be huge gaps but I promise I'll let you all know if I discontinue this.

**Author's Note:**

> So I don't have this super planned out... If you have certain interactions you would love to see please do let me know!


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